Computerware Blog

More people are consistently working remotely now than before the pandemic, and while many businesses have been able to make it work, some continue to struggle. Workers that were moved out of the brick and mortar office to their homes at the beginning of the pandemic aren’t all looking forward to going back. If your business is considering a sustained remote or hybrid workplace strategy, having a team that can successfully collaborate from where they work is essential. This month we thought we would take a look at three problems businesses with remote workers could experience and the solutions for those challenges.

AI has been one of the leading technology topics for years now, and it’s not that surprising considering how many software developers are using the concept. For years it took a lot of people to realize that algorithmic machine learning could have massive benefits for business and society; they just thought AI was for the development of cyborgs. In business today, however, AI can be found in all types of applications. Let’s take a look at a couple of ways AI is currently being used in business.

With all the communication tools that businesses use today, there still is no tool you depend on as much as you do your telephone system. Unfortunately for small businesses, the telephone system can be expensive and hard to manage. However, there is a way for you to get a full-featured telephone service with some of the most important communication tools, for a fraction of the price that you currently pay for your current telephone system. That way is through incorporating a VoIP system. 

While smartphones can help businesses quite a bit, they can also be quite detrimental to their success. If you can get past the issues related to employees bringing their own devices to the workplace, then you’ll be able to save a considerable amount of time and money doling out mobile devices. However, you will need to make sure you have a mobile device management policy put in place so that you can control how those mobile endpoints interact with your business’ standing infrastructure and data.

The past year has been tough on businesses, if only because of how unpredictable everything has been. As far as network security goes, however, most of the threats that were plaguing companies before the pandemic are the same ones that IT administrators are dealing with today. Curiously, it seems that a week can’t go by without a major data breach. Why is this happening? Simply put, the fundamentals of security management are being neglected. Let’s take a look at three practices that need to be followed in order to keep your organization from being a victim of a scam or cyberattack.

There are a lot of threats out on the Internet, and the good news is that many of them have absolutely no chance to threaten your business. The problem is that it only takes one to really put your business at a major disadvantage. One threat is all it takes to lock down your files and hold them for ransom. One threat is all it takes to corrupt your databases. One threat, if it got bad enough, could conceivably end your business. 

With the cost of doing business rising, it is not really a surprise that the decision makers at many organizations are looking to save a bit of money where they can. Using cloud platforms to meet business computing needs has proven to be a particularly popular way of doing so, especially when you can consolidate your business’ spending through products like hosted VoIP.

Do you use different passwords on every account you’ve created? Are these passwords sufficiently complex? Chances are at some point you have repeated at least one password. Remembering 35 different logins for 35 different applications is hard enough, so it’s not surprising that the majority of people will use the same password for many applications. Bad password practices are all too common. So, how can you fix this?

As COVID-19 vaccines keep rolling out, there is a big question of what’s next for the modern small business. How are businesses going to operate once it is relatively safe to go back to the workplace? This month we thought we’d briefly discuss the issue of creating a hybrid work model and how in the world businesses are going to manage it. 

One of the most valuable things for a business to know, in terms of its cybersecurity, is how vulnerable it is to breaches and exploits. This kind of information can be gathered via a process called penetration testing, or pen testing. Let’s go over how the average pen test is conducted to see how these insights are collected.

If you were to lose your business’ data, would you be able to continue operations? Usually not. This is why you need to take precautions before you inevitably suffer from an unpredictable situation that puts your data at risk. Unfortunately, the average small business might not think they are at risk, a notion we are trying to dispel. If your organization is considering backup and disaster recovery, we want to help you better understand data redundancy.

For many businesses, email plays a crucial role in the dissemination of information. Whether it is simply interacting with clients or pushing directions to individuals, email is a simple and efficient way to communicate. One problem that organizations are running into is that individuals are being inundated with social engineering messages called phishing. This strategy is causing major operational problems for businesses, from malware to data breaches to extended downtime. Let’s identify what exactly phishing is and how it is used to the detriment of many businesses and other organizations.

First, we want to state that addiction is always a problem and requires help. Unfortunately, smartphone addiction is good for businesses. This month we will take a brief look at smartphone addiction and how businesses are taking full advantage of their employees’ reliance on their mobile devices. 

By now, you’ve probably heard the term Bitcoin get thrown around recently. There are a few reasons this digital currency has received some mentions in the public eye—but what is it?

In light of the recent successful touchdown of Mars Rover Perseverance, it reminded me of a really fun story I read about a technical issue that NASA had a few years ago, and how it’s an extremely powerful message for anyone who relies on technology for their business.

Everyone in a business has set responsibilities that they need to fulfill, one major one being proper security maintenance. A failure to uphold this responsibility could have serious consequences, including the very real potential of a security breach. 

Think about how different your computing practices are today compared with the way you did things 20 years ago. If you’ve been around that long, there is a good chance that the way you go about things is much, much different than it was at the turn of the century. The biggest difference today is how most people use mobile devices to do a large percentage of their computing, as compared with past generations. Today, we will take a look at some of the innovations that mobile devices have made to be able to stand alone at the top of the computing food chain. 

The calendar is chock-full of novelty holidays, March specifically starting with things like World Compliment Day (you look great, by the way) and ending with the very scientific Bunsen Burner Day. However, while things like National Pears Helene Day—March 15—are fun, some of these days touch on more important topics.

Let’s go over some of the novelty days in March that can provide us with some IT best practices to keep in mind.

We’re always trying to get our message out, sharing how our services can bring value to just about any kind of business, seeing as just about every organization today relies on technology to some degree. This month, we thought we’d tell you a little bit about managed IT services and how they can help your business.

Businesses that are searching for ways to support the new normal often need to migrate their data from a server they host to the cloud or vice versa. Despite all the integrations that would seem to make this process simpler, they actually make it more difficult. It can be a very difficult situation for any business and should be completed under the watchful eye of professional technicians. Let’s take a look at some of the problems you may encounter: